U.S. online retail sales will increase at a 14 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next five years, almost doubling from $172 billion in 2005 to $329 billion in 2010, writes CNET, citing a new report from Forrester Research. Travel will remain the top category, with revenue reaching $119 billion in 2010, or a nearly 90 percent increase over the $63 billion expected in 2005. Revenue from online sales of general merchandise in 2005 will cross the $100 billion threshold.

The growth of online sales will come at the expense of offline sales as catalogers, in particular, introduce buyers to the benefits of the web, according to the report; and, as a result, online retail, excluding travel, will account for 9 percent of total retail sales in 2010, DM News writes.

Categories expected to see a gain in the coming years include health and beauty products - predicted to grow at a CAGR of 22 percent - and small appliances, which should see 29 percent of its sales move online by the end of the decade, when today's internet-saturated youth will have begun to get married and attend weddings, Forrester forecast.

Part of the growth is expected to be the result of how retailers' views of the web are changing. Retailers are coming to view the Net as a tool to improve customer service and retention rather than merely as a low-cost sales channel, according to Forrester.